• Stick with LGA 775 or start from scratch?
    11 replies, posted
Alright FP, here's my dilemma: I've recently been able to find another job, and over the course of the next six months, I'll be saving up for computer parts. I'm headed off to a major University in the area, which means that this is probably the last time I'll have money to upgrade for pretty close to 3-4 years. Right now I have an E6600, a GA-EP45-UD3P, 2x1GB DDR2 800, and an 8800 GTS 320MB, and when I built this rig, I was trying to future-proof as best as I could. I suppose it's really an age old question. Should I upgrade the rig I have now and start from scratch in 3-4 years, or should I start from scratch now, and upgrade the next time? Here's a list of the parts I'm looking at upgrading to. (Also I'm a fairly experienced overclocker, so I'll be taking the CPU at least past it's stock speeds.) Intel Xeon X3360 Yorkfield 2.83GHz - $295 (I plan on taking this to 4Ghz, which requires a 470 FSB, but my mobo can manage) [url]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117166[/url] XFX HD-585A-ZNDC Radeon HD 5850 - $325 (Yay for lifetime warranties) [url]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150455[/url] Mushkin Enhanced Blackline 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 - $110 [url]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146785[/url] Now keep in mind I'll be selling my old GPU, CPU, and RAM, which altogether will go for ~$180-$200 on ebay. I don't do a whole lot of super-intense gaming(Crysis: Warhead, STALKER, Metro 2033, you know what I mean), but I'm building a rig that's hopefully going to keep me satisfied for 3-4 years. If I start new, I'll be able to get ~$250 including the mobo for my old parts, and the new rig would probably be an i7-860, 4GB(2x2GB) DDR3 1600, and that same 5850. tl;dr Should I spend $550 (after selling other parts) on upgrading my LGA 775 rig, or spend $700($960 before selling the parts to my old rig) building a new rig? Given that I generally don't do high-end gaming, am I really going to notice the performance difference?
Why not go all out now and earn your money to payback, just get an i5 or something nice?
I say OC the shit out of that E6600, 2 more gigs of ram, 5850, possibly new PSU. If you're still not satisfied, salvage the case, hard drive, disc drive, PSU, video card(obviously) and build an i5 system on an LGA1156 board.
I have an old LGA775 slot E6750. OC'd from 2.66 to 3.4 stable. It's really easy and it works perfectly fine for me. I say give Overclocking a shot.
I'm already running my E6600 at 3.6Ghz (1.38V Prime95 24h stable, it's a week 30 :D ) and my ram at 4-4-4-12 CAS 2 @ 800Mhz (1:1 RAM:FSB). Also my PSU is alright for now, I had to replace one that burned out about 2 years ago (yes I know they lose efficiency over time), but this one seems to still be running strong. 600W. So you guys think that an extra 2GB of RAM and a new GPU will make that much difference? Again, (and I know it's impossible but) think 3-4 years down the road. Will a dual-core CPU still be enough? I have my doubts is all.
[QUOTE=AesoSpadez;20770261] So you guys think that an extra 2GB of RAM and a new GPU will make that much difference? Again, (and I know it's impossible but) think 3-4 years down the road. Will a dual-core CPU still be enough? I have my doubts is all.[/QUOTE] Going from an 8800 to a 5850 will make a huge difference. The extra ram will depend on what programs you use. Whether or not a dual-core will be sufficient enough down the road depends on, again, what programs you use.
Ah, cool. I'm still a little ways off from these parts, so I'll probably wait for the next price drop before buying the graphics card. Also, I had a thought. I could always buy that ram kit and put it in next to my originals. That way I'd have 6GB ram, and if I ever decide that a faster processor is needed, I can take the old DIMMS and still use the 1:1 band along side that X3360, which will probably be cheaper by then. Hmmm...
They will run @ 800 though cause of the other 2 sticks, not 1066.
wait and save a little and go for ddr3 and i5 or i7 processor
Before you go blowing $300 on a Xeon, your board doesn't support it. Xeons aren't faster than their C2Q counterparts, they're just designed to run in dual socket motherboards. You can get an i5-750, 4 GB DDR3-1600 and a Gigabyte 1156 motherboard for $500, which would be a better choice.
A Xeon 3360 is exactly the same as a Q9550, but it gets binned higher. They're literally the same chip. Besides, it's only the newer Xeons that have to be "designed" to support Dual CPU sockets. Before the i7's came out, the memory controller was on the NB, so a dual-CPU mobo didn't have to bother with an interconnect between the processors, it would all get handled through the NB. That's why server motherboards have different NBs. Without a server NB, it'll just get treated like an exceptionally stable Q9550. Also, an overclocked X3360 benches the same or better than an i7-930 (stock, obv) in everything except for memory speed tests. It's cheaper to upgrade this rig (in terms of performance) than it is to replace it, trust me. The implied question I suppose is will Intel still be producing 1156 parts in 2014? If so, then rebuilding now and upgrading later is the best option. If not, then upgrading now and rebuilding later is the best bet.
It would cost more money overall to upgrade your current system and then do a complete rebuild later rather than just getting a new i5 or i7 from the start. You can't use any of the old parts (besides the GPU) in the new system and the old parts would have depreciated in value significantly. Even if you tried selling them on ebay, you wouldn't be guaranteed to get the price you ask for the parts, if you could sell them at all.
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